12/30/2007 | N1AW I'm usually a casual contester and this is the first time I ever submitted a log for the 10 meter contest. I operated a total of about 2.5 hours in 5 segments. My station is modest, I used an old Atlas 210x at 20 to 30 watts output to a mini-G5RV at about 35 feet. I didn't expect much since the band was absolutely dead every time I listened in recent months. But I got more than I expected, 10 cw and 6 ssb contacts. Until near the end all QSOs were local. I'm in MA and my first 14 QSOs were with MA, CT, or NH stations. Then in the last six minutes I worked stations in WI and MN. It was well after dark, so I suppose this was Es skip. I've been surprised like this on dead bands before, it just shows that contest activity can reveal propagation that isn't noticed when nobody is calling CQ. -- N1AW